342 



The National Geographic Magazine 



Compared with other parts of West 

 Africa, I should say that Liberia is less 

 unhealthy for the European than Sierra 

 Leone, the Ivory Coast, the Gold Coast, 

 or Lagos. But it is, perhaps, too soon 

 to judge. It is noteworthy, however, that 

 the remarkable absence of mosquitoes 

 should, to a great extent, coincide with 

 a less marked prevalence of malarial 

 fevers. 



From a European point of view, per- 

 haps the most healthy part of Liberia 

 is the northern half, and from all ac- 

 counts it would be the Mandingo plateau 

 that Europeans would prefer for their 

 trading or mining setlements. 



The great, undoubted wealth of Liberia 

 lies in its rubber, but the trade in this 

 product is as yet only in its infancy. 

 Another important article of export in 

 the future will be timber. Piassava, which 

 is a fiber derived from the rind of the 

 fronds of a raphia palm, figures to some 

 extent in the exports, which also include 

 coffee, a little cacao, ivory, copal, palm 

 oil, palm kernels, ginger, camwood, and 

 annatto. 



The constitution is framed after that 

 of the United States. There are a Presi- 

 dent,- Vice-President, a council of six 

 ministers, and a Senate and a House of 

 Representatives. The total membership 

 of both houses is 22. Voters must be 

 of negro blood and own real estate. The 

 natives generally do not avail themselves 

 of the suffrage. No foreigner can own 

 land without the consent of the govern- 

 ment. The capital, Ad^onrovia (named 

 after President Monroe), has a popula- 

 tion of about 2,500. There is a regular 

 army of 1,000 men. The militia number 

 500. The annual budget balances at 

 about $200,000, the revenues being usu- 

 ally somewhat in excess of the expendi- 

 tures. Customs duties furnish most of 

 the receipts. 



The American consul general to Li- 

 beria, who has recently made several 

 journeys into the unknown interior of 

 Liberia, writes as follows : 



"The absence of railroads and of every 

 other vehicular convenience for travel 



in Liberia is a serious drawback to the 

 development and prosperity of the re- 

 public. For this reason very few Libe- 

 rians venture into the interior. Except 

 soldiers and traders, the Liberians are 

 absolutely ignorant of the interior of their 

 country. 



"We found no roads entitled to be 

 called such leading into the interior, 

 either to or from native towns. They 

 are all crooked and labyrinthine. They 

 are made crooked to mislead the enemy, 

 and to render his approach to a town 

 difficult during a tribal war. The abo- 

 rigines give themselves no concern about 

 obstacles in the road. They cut down a 

 tree and leave part of the huge branches 

 lying across the path. They never think 

 of removing them except when com- 

 pelled to do so by a Liberian commis- 

 sioner. They prefer either to climb over 

 or to go around, and to swim a creek 

 rather than to take the trouble to cross 

 it by the bridge. When an old road is 

 abandoned it is flagged by placing a 

 branch as an obstruction at the fork of 

 the path. The native knows what this 

 means and takes the new road. The 

 reason given by the native for leaving 

 obstructions in the roads and for making 

 them narrow and winding is not only 

 to bewilder the tribal foe, but also to 

 render it difificult for the Americo-Li- 

 berian to find them in their native fast- 



NATIVfi FUNERAI, 



"We arrived at one village in time to 

 witness the burial ceremonies over the 

 remains of the king's daughter, who had 

 died three days previously. Her death 

 was evidently occasioned by physical 

 exhaustion. She undertook a journey 

 of 40 miles three days after becoming 

 a mother. Her relatives, however, con- 

 cluded that her somewhat sudden death 

 was due to witchcraft, and the whole 

 town accordingly set about finding the 

 witch. The memory of the dead was 

 honored by the customary dance, which 

 consisted of hideous yells and physical 

 contortions, leaving the women in a 



